1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to auger type icemakers, and more particularly to a mounting construction of an extrusion head in the auger type icemakers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,173 issued on May 3, 1988, a conventional auger type icemaker includes an evaporator housing with a cylindrical inner wall providing a freezing surface on which ice crystals may form, an auger mounted for rotary movement within the housing to be driven to scrape ice crystals off the freezing surface and to advance the scraped ice crystals toward the upper end of the housing, an extrusion head formed with a plurality of ice extruding passages, and means for stationally mounting the extrusion head at the upper end of the housing. In the icemaker of this type, the extrusion head is coupled within an annular space between the upper end of the housing and an upper shaft portion of the auger and fixed to the housing in circumferential and axial directions. In operation, the scraped ice crystals from the auger is fed into and compressed in the extruding passages of the head to be discharged as rods of ice therefrom. In the course of compressing the scraped ice crystals, relatively large thrust forces exerted by the auger act on the evaporator housing through the extrusion head in an axial direction. For this reason, it is required to increase the wall thickness of the evaporator housing and use large screws for mounting the extrusion head in place.